Understanding The Music Industries

Everyone knows music is big business, but do you really understand how ideas and inspiration become songs, products, downloads, concerts and careers? This textbook guides students to a full understanding of the processes that drive the music industries. More than just an expose or 'how to' guide, this book gives students the tools to make sense of technological change, socio-cultural processes, and the constantly shifting music business environment, putting them in the front line of innovation and entrepreneurship in the future. Packed with case studies, this book: • Takes the reader on a journey from Glastonbury and the X-Factor to house concerts and crowd-funded releases; • Demystifies management, publishing and recording contracts, and the world of copyright, intellectual property and music piracy; • Explains how digital technologies have changed almost all aspects of music making, performing, promotion and consumption; • Explores all levels of the music industries, from micro-independent businesses to corporate conglomerates; • Enables students to meet the challenge of the transforming music industries. This is the must-have primer for understanding and getting ahead in the music industries. It is essential reading for students of popular music in media studies, sociology and musicology.

This research-based book outlines career models for artists, methods of creative engagement, artistic options including individuality and branding, production practices, the realities of being a musician in the new industries, and implications for popular music education. Due to the profound effects of the digitisation of music, the music industries have undergone rapid transformation. The former record label dominated industry has been supplanted by new industries, including digital aggregators, strategists and online platforms. These new music industries now facilitate ‘direct’ access to both artists and their music. While such accessibility and the potential for artist exposure have never been greater, the challenge to stand out or to even navigate a musical career pathway is formidable. A useful resource for musicians and educators, this text highlights the ways in which the new music industries facilitate increased opportunities for 21st Century popular musicians to collaborate, communicate and interact with others interested in their music.

Understanding the Music Business offers students a current overview of the music business. Going beyond what most music business texts offer, Weismann delivers a contemporary approach that addresses the unanswered questions for today's music students, such as, "Is it really possible to make a living as musician?" Understanding the Music Business covers the basics in the first part of the text. This first section deals with the fundamentals of the industry, including recording, music publishing, agents, managers, radio and television, unions, the internet and new technology, and regional and international music markets. However, it is the second half of the text that breaks new ground by covering the career paths of new artists in the industry, the development and need for entrepreneurial skills, and the ways that individuals forge careers in the industry.

In today’s fast-moving music industry, what does it take to build a life-long career? Now more than ever, all those working in music need to be aware of many aspects of the business, and take control of their own careers. Understanding the Music Business offers students a concise yet comprehensive overview of the rapidly evolving music industry, rooted in real-world experiences. Anchored by a wealth of career profiles and case studies, this second edition has been updated throughout to include the most important contemporary developments, including the advent of streaming and the shift to a DIY paradigm. A new "Both Sides Now" feature helps readers understand differing opinions on key issues. Highly readable, Understanding the Music Business is the perfect introduction for anyone seeking to understand how musical talents connect to making a living.

For everyone in the music industry—record labels, managers, music publishers, and the performers themselves—it is important to understand the world music marketplace and how it functions. Yet remarkably little has been written about the music business outside of the U.S. The Global Music Industry: Three Perspectives gives a concise overview of the issues facing everyone in the international music industry. Designed for an introductory course on music business, the book begins with an introduction to the field around the world, then focuses on global issues by region, from bootlegging and copyright to censorship and government support. It will be a standard resource for students, professionals, and musicians.

Focussing on the variety of genres that make up pop music, Roy Shuker explores key subjects which shape our experience of music such as, music production, the music industry, music policy, fans, audiences and subcultures.Understanding Popular Music is a comprehensive introduction to the history and meaning of popular music. It begins with a critical assessment of the different ways in which popular music has been studied and the difficulties and debates which surround the analysis of popular culture and popular music.Drawing on the recent work of music scholars and the popular music press, Shuker explores key subjects which shape our experience of music, including music production, the music industry, music policy, fans, audiences and subcultures, the musician as 'star', music journalism, and the reception and consumption of popular music. This fully revised and updated second edition includes:*case studies and lyrics of artists such as Shania Twain, S Club 7, The Spice Girls and Fat Boy Slim* the impact of technologies including on-line delivery and the debates over MP3 and Napster* the rise of DJ culture and the changing idea of the 'musician'* a critique of gender and sexual politics and the discrimination which exists in the music industry* moral panics over popular music including the controversies surrounding artists such as Marilyn Manson and Ice-T* a comprehensive discography, guide to further reading and directory of websites.

Create, Produce, Consume explores the cycle of musical experience for musicians, professionals, and budding entrepreneurs looking to break into the music industry. Building on the concepts of his previous book, Making Money, Making Music, David Bruenger provides readers with a basic framework for understanding the relationships between the artist and audience and the producer consumer by examining the methods underlying creation-production-reception and creation-consumption-compensation. Each chapter offers a different perspective on the processes and structures that lead listeners to discover, experience, and interact with music and musical artists. Through case studies ranging from Taylor Swift’s refusal to allow her music to be streamed on Spotify to the rise of artists supported through sites like Patreon, Bruenger offers highly relevant real-world examples of industry practices that shape our encounters with music. Create, Produce, Consume is a critical tool for giving readers the agile knowledge necessary to adapt to a rapidly changing music industry. Graphs, tables, lists for additional reading, and questions for further discussion illustrate key concepts. Online resources for instructors and students will include sample syllabi, lists for expanded reading, and more.